Saturday 1 February 2014

How to Make Money Writing on the Internet?






Basically, there are three ways to make money from writing on the Internet. You can either use: 

  • Websites that offer membership so you can either bid on work or apply for writing jobs. Sites that I will discuss in future blogs are People Per Hour, Elance, Constant Content, etc.


  • Join sites that offer shared advertising revenue from the posts you write. Sites that include Hub Pages, Suite101, Treasurepen, Schvoong, etc.



  • You can create your own blogs and use advertising and social media to maximise your revenue.



Most writers will do all three. Let’s just first say, it is not easy to earn a living from writing on the Internet. It requires determination, time, a good knowledge of how social media marketing works and the willingness to share advice and ideas with the other members of the writing community.

It is also a plus if you can actually write but I will discuss what good writing is, in another blog, another day.

What I want to do in this post is share my experience of websites that I have used in my writing endeavours!

Websites that advertise work

PPH or People Per Hour is a site for sellers and buyers services that range from design, marketing to writing. It is easy to join and free, although there are costs involved for taking tests to evidence to sellers your competencies i.e in grammar and spelling etc.


You can upload a profile pic and your portfolio, which is basically selling you. What are your skills? Is it SEO, writing Guest Posts, or are you an academic writer? What are your skills? This is your chance to sell yourself to attract clients. But be honest. Don't say that you are a social media expert who can write guest post blogs on technology sites if your interests and skills are American History and proofreading.


I joined PPH less than three years ago and through the site I have earned over £3000. Not a fortune, I know but I haven’t been consistent in my bidding. There is a lot of work that comes up on the site from all over the world and obviously, the more work you win, the better it looks on your profile. Any writer needs a good portfolio. If you are a novice, give a sample of what you can do.


PPH is a writer friendly site. For mobile phone users there is a free PPH app and new jobs are instantly emailed to you. There are free bidding credits but if you want to bid more there is a charge. I, personally, have never had to do this.


After sifting through the jobs, and believe me, there are quite a few to sift through, I find I have enough free credits to make the proposals that I want. When making a proposal sell yourself. Use grammatically correct English with no spelling mistakes. Attach files of your work or pastes links (better if it is relevant to the job you are applying for)! As I previously stated, It is no good saying you can write a fashion blog if you know nothing about it.


To bid for a job, consider the money offered. I have found that some buyers are absolutely ridiculous in what they are prepared to pay. Do you really want to write 500 words for £1?


Do you think that it is possible to churn out 3000 words within a day? No.


What you need to do is never sell yourself short. On PPH there are many so-called writers whose first language is not English. What they do is apply for work at ridiculously low rates in return for a mangled mish-mash of Google translated English.


You, as a professional writer, are better than that.You should work out how much money you will earn in an hour doing this type of work. If the job is going to take you three hours and you want a decent return, then don’t sell yourself short. A truly professional firm will consider you and if you win the job, you will give a totally professional standard of work.


The buyer gives feedback on the site and the more positive comments you receive from customers, the more likely you will be hired again and again.


Payment wise, PPH ask for a deposit from the buyer to put in an Escrow account. When you have completed the work and the customer is happy then you create an invoice through PPH. Money is paid via PayPal. All writers need a PayPal account.

Whatever you do, do not be tempted by a buyer who wants to do business outside of PPH. Not at least until you have established a long working relationship. PPH protects writers- that is why they do charge a commission but don’t make the mistake I did once. I rewrote a whole website for a customer I found through PPH, who simply did not pay me. Because I was so desperate for work at the time I worked outside of PPH, at his request. If buyers are using the PPH website to search for quality writers then they should stick with PPH despite them sometimes suggesting that you don’t!

Don’t forget you can report late payers or tricky customers- you know the type- that move the goalposts and nitpick through your work. I

On the whole, my experience of PPH has been good and positive! It takes a while for payments to be approved but that is general for any freelance writer! You are always waiting for that cheque!

I would welcome any feedback to this blog. Have you had a good or bad experience of PPH? I would love you to share it.


NEXT BLOG: Review of Elance.

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